Moolampilly evictees hold march seeking govt.’s ‘change of heart’ for implementation of rehabilitation package
Sixteen years and 36 deaths later, the families evicted for the rail and road connectivity of the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) took out a candlelight procession to the Vallarpadam Basilica on Tuesday delivering a silent prayer seeking government’s change of heart for the implementation of the Moolampilly rehabilitation package on its anniversary.
As many as 316 families were evicted from seven villages for the project in 2008, initially without any rehabilitation package. A 40day protest staged by the evictees forced then State government to declare the package on March 19, 2008. However, the package was never implemented in the right spirit leaving the evictees to knock in futile at the doors of successive governments.
It was for a change in their fortune with regard to rehabilitation that the evictees sought ‘divine intervention’ on the 16th anniversary of the announcement of the package. “Since the eviction, 36 persons have died, and none of them were fortunate to have a proper rehabilitation while only 52 could shift to houses built on rehabilitation plots,” said Francis Kalathungal, general convener, Moolampilly Coordination Committee.
The committee demanded financial compensation as the government’s promise of a job for one member from each evicted family after the completion of the project had not been fulfilled. Rehabilitation plots at Thuthiyoor, which were found unfit, should be made inhabitable, and plots should be demarcated for those who have received title deeds.
Beneficiaries of rehabilitation plots in Mulavukad, facing a construction ban owing to the legal dispute between a private individual and the government over a path cutting through the plots, should receive monthly rent until the issue is resolved. Tax deducted from the compensation in violation of the government order should be refunded.
The Moolampilly Monitoring Committee chaired by the District Collector for overseeing the implementation of the package should be convened immediately, the committee demanded.